Newsletter July 2000
TOOL NEWSLETTER JULY, 2000 E.V. With a blown fuse in a bass amp, several members of the band decided to take some R&R during the last weeks of May. Adam traveled to Japan where he went in search of the strange: strange mech(like that used by Shaver's detrimental robots), instruments with odd numbers of strings, ungodly artwork and additions to his fine collection of toy-teratomas. While there, he visited Hiroshima. Here, according to the locals, something big went down during World War Two(I'm going to do further research to try and verify these outrageous claims). On his way to Hakone, one of the few places in Japan where there are still authentic Rodan sightings, he had a chance to sample one the region's culinary aberrations - black eggs(something he had wanted to do since childhood, but never had the means - that is until Tool's success). Justin, in turn, headed the other direction, back to England where there were pub-crawls, after which he attended a friend's wedding(congratulations to Ben and his wife), saw a soccer match in which the usual hooligans in attendance were better behaved then those watching a local chess tournament(though, to be fair, there wasn't as much excitement with those chaps kicking that ball back and forth as there was during said chess match). This was followed by one-or-more pub-crawls, as prescribed by his physical therapist. For some reason, Danny decided to take his vacation in hell - - or, rather, he went to look for the possible Gate to Hell in Stull, Kansas. He didn't see anything that could conclusively verify this claim, although he did spot Texas governor George Bush jr.( Bush-Lite)in the area. (So much for urban legends, folks)... After much trudging about, Dan found himself in the local Denny's-IHOP clone where, coincidentally, he also had black eggs.(NOTE: According to Adam, the black discoloration of the ones he ate in Japan had something to with sulfur springs or thermal venting. Hmmm.) But all was not lost, in KC, Danny was able to see Maynard with A Perfect Circle who opened for Nine Inch Nails. Okay, with Adam's amp-head duly removed from the refrigerator (and a new fuse for Justin), the group is now back at work finishing the new material. All so that you will once again worship the ground they walk on. (By the way, the writer of the newsletter gets paid by the parenthesis). WEB NEWSFLASH: Tool merchandise is now available on our website, all proceeds going to Ralph Reid and the Christian Coalition... well, not really, but maybe we'll send them some good folks some complimentary "Ænima" keychains with malefic eyes that appear and disappear at the slightest movement of those foolish enough to handle them, positive proof that they are indeed the handiwork of some devil from Stull. Also, Tool shirts are now available in different sizes! Every 50th person who orders something on-line automatically receives an autographed picture from the band and anyone who spends over $100 receives a picture as well. http://www.toolband.com/store Q: What is the status of TOOL/LARRIKIN? A: There has been a split between TOOL and their former Management Company Larrikin, although the details have not been released yet. Q: Where is the true Gate to Hell located? A: Where the mauve zone meets the corn in Stull, Kansas, at least according to some. But, my best guess would be Dillon, S. C. near Myrtle beach. If you don't believe me, try speeding through that place sometime. Q: What are powdered peanuts used for? A: Powdered peanuts are used by Nuba chiefs(ju-ju men)in the rituals of African sorcery to draw a protective circle in which to evoke the power of Nagua. However, if practicing the black arts isn't your thing, it can be used to make peanut butter. Okay. That's enough questions, its getting dark outside. THE BESTIRRING OF THE NOMMOS: A SERIOUS MYSTERY REVISITED PART TWO Excerpts from a lecture given at P.U.P. LODGE(Hollywood) by FRATER IJYNX on January 17, 2000 e.v. APING THE GLORIOUS NETERS? To recap, in the 1940s, reputable French anthropologists published information about the Dogon , a near stone-age tribe living in the remotest part of Africa, whose tribal priests have precise and detailed knowledge of the Sirius star system. Among this astrophysically-acurate information is knowledge of a dark companion of Sirius A known prosaically as Sirius B(and a third star, Sirius C), its elliptical orbital period of 49.9 years, and that it is one of the heaviest types of stars, being a white dwarf. When Robert Temple first published these findings in his book, "The Sirius Mystery", he drew extensively on ancient Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptian mythology to bolster his argument that the Dogon knowledge derived from extraterrestrial visitors who arrived on earth around 4500 B.C. However, there are other available sources which he did not mention in the book ,either because A) he wasn't aware of these or B)he was dubious of these. What I am referring to is the vast literature of the occult which is filled with references of contact with beings from the Sirius system. In these , Sirius is the Star of the Tarot, An aspect of Isis, the Star of Set and the Silver Star of Aleister Crowley's mystical fraternity, the Argentum Astrum, or A.A. Members of Crowley's Lodge were interested in finding their "hidden god" from "the Sun behind the Sun"(Sirius)which was focusing cosmic influences on the planet via an Earth-Sirius channel. In this Sirius cult, both galaxies and stars are conscious entities with termini scattered throughout the cosmos which act as transmitter, receiver and decoders of information. This notion is similar to what Temple suggests in the up-dated version of "The Sirius Mystery". The Sol-Sothis system "are elements of a larger entity" which he proposes to call "the Anubis Cell. "Both are in a continuous harmonic resonance with one other" and with cell potential "psychic communication and nonmaterial interactions of souls may be possible". Temple adds that "inspiration may come to humans on earth from the Sirius system by harmonic resonance articulated by the field of the cell. Compare this form of interstellar telepathy with the "signals" from invisible beings which Lodges like Crowley's A.A. were attempting to channel through the prescribed magical rituals. A possible example of just such a Sirian communication is LIBER AL, better known as "The Book of the Law". According to Crowley, Liber Al was a received text ,channeled through his first wife Rose(named Ouarda the Seeress by Crowley) while in Cairo, Egypt. The forebodding prophecy of the text was dictated in a rich timber by a higher intelligence which called itself Aiwass, an emissary of the Egyptian Neter, Horus. One passage in the book even asks "is a god to live in a dog?", a possible reference to the Dog Star, Sirius. During the 1950s, Crowley's last disciple, British occultist and current Outer Head of the Typhonian OTO, Kenneth Grant, worked rituals with his NU-ISIS lodge that were designed to receive Maatian emanations from Sirius. In his remarkable Typhonian trilogies, Grant leaves a record of the lodge's attempts to establish traffic with non-human entities from a planet he describes as being trans-Plutonic. According to KG, the best way to survive an alien apocalypse is to align oneself with the Crowleyan forces or extraterrestrial current being channeled. In other words to allow those forces associated with the entities of magic into the human life-wave. It is also interesting to note that one of Crowley's drawings currently in the possession of the Typhonian OTO depicts an entity called Lam (The Way)which closely resembles those beings described by modern-day abductees(ie. greys). While the Stellar Gnosis of Grant and other practitioners of chaos magick is quite complex, involving rituals based on multidimensional Tantric practices and kundalini mechanics of hyperdimensional consciousness, it makes one wonder if the beings from Sirius physically landed on the Earth or communicated instructions for contact via the telepathic methods discussed. Psychedelic guru, Timothy Leary also claimed to be receiving these Sirian manifestations. During the dog days(July 23-Sept 8)of 1973, he recorded his Starseed Transmissions. According to Leary, the purpose of the communications was to upgrade our larval circuitry so that humankind might join(or return)to the Galactic Network. Through private correspondence, Temple was familiar with these workings but chose to disassociate himself from the late doctor because of his(Leary's) recommending the use of drugs to facilitate the Earth-Sirius channel, a practice which Crowley also advocated. Again, to quote from Liber AL: "To worship me take wine and strange drugs whereof I will tell my prophet & be drunk thereof." Although much of the occult literature dealing with beings such as LAM, Assoic-Aiwass etc. is obscure, even to Temple's readers, if one makes the effort to research Crowley, Grant, etc., one will find many similarities with the ideas laid out by Temple. Yet, despite the idea of interstellar telepathy between the two systems, Temple, it seems, is still a proponent of a physical landing on the earth by the Sirians. In the new forward he makes a case that the erosion damage of the great Sphinx on the Giza plateau is due to its having been encircled by an artificial lake or, at the least, a moat of sorts. Others, such as geologist Robert Schoch of Boston University and maverick Egyptologist John Anthony West have suggested that rainwater was responsible for the weathering in the statue's remote past - during a time when there was a very different climate in the region - thus pushing back the date of construction by thousands of years, an idea not accepted by conventional Egyptologists. According to Temple, the reason for this retaining-pit of water was that the Nommo's(the amphibian creatures from Sirius described by the DOGon priests)labyrinth of watery chambers were located beneath the Sphinx . Here, they were inaccessible to humans, that is until sometime in our future when they could be breached using modern technology. Compare this idea with the occult legends of a "Hall of Records" hidden under the Sphinx's paws. Temple also speculates that interstellar voyages may be one way trips and that the ark of the Nommos(their spacecraft) may still be "parked" in orbit around one the outer planets in the solar system. The best candidate for this, so Temple believes, is the Saturnian moon, Phoebe. Phoebe is the tenth moon of Saturn and the Dogon say that the Nommo will one day return to earth from their new home which they call the "star of the tenth moon". Due to its many anomalies, such as its retrograde orbit and unusual albedo(very low reflectivity at .05), Temple as asks us to consider that Phoebe may in fact be an artificial structure(many astronomers believe that Phoebe might be a captured asteroid or Kuiper-Belt object). The core of this sphere might be filled with water in which the Sirians remain in suspended animation, waiting, as Temple says, "for things to get more interesting down here". If this is the case, might then the ancient Egyptians practice of mummification be a childlike mimicking of the high-tech method of preserving those by putting them in suspended animation. Were the royal embalmers, then ,aping the glorious Neters in their attempts to project the pharaohs into the celestial realm, the dwelling place of the gods? Calendar of Events July 4............................................................TOOL's big BBQ Bash July10 ..........................................................Drummer's Dad "Big Bob's" Birthday July 22.......................................................... Just another boring day in paradise July 23 .........................................................Sirius Rises July 24 ..........................................................Danny visits his probation officer HAPPY TRAILS JUSTIN DANNY MAYNARD ADAM Category:2000 Newsletters